Samsung never stops patenting new foldables and they’ve done it again, this time in a larger format. The South Koreans have patented a tablet that folds down the middle and looks like the device shown below. We’ve seen hints about the Galaxy Fold 2 and that one is going to end up like a clamshell or the Moto RAZR 2019. A tablet though is something new.
To be honest, Samsung has been patenting foldable tablets even before the first Galaxy Fold was out. Now we learn that they filed a design patent with the Hague International Design System on May 9th 2019. The documents include 35 images and 3 different models. The folding line is not in the middle on all models, weirdly enough. The renders shown here are made by Letsgodigital, based on the most plausible of the sketches.
Compared to the Galaxy Fold, the newcomer can fold horizontally and it creates a pretty wide and long flexible screen, when opened. A similar foldable phone was patented back in August. This time there’s also no more front display, the one used to show notifications, so just the two panels inside remain. The name “Galaxy Tab Fold” gets thrown around by the source. We also can’t see any trace of camera here, main or frontal.
The front one may be hidden under the screen, while the main one is probably forgotten, as these are generic sketches. No notch is visible and bezels are quite narrow. There are also some patent sketches that show the device being used like a laptop, with the top part for interactive elements and the bottom part as the keyboard. A quad speaker system is also here, something new compared to the two speakers on the current Galaxy Fold.
Expect a $2000 price tag if this becomes real, maybe more. This doesn’t sound like a Microsoft Surface Neo rival, but more like a Surface Duo one.
